Razorbacks Sign Notre Dame Transfer Ava Zachary

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.  – Former Notre Dame infielder and D1Softball Second-Team Freshman All-American Ava Zachary has transferred to Arkansas to play for Head Coach Courtney Deifel and the Razorbacks.

Zachary appeared in all 51 games and started 43 games for Notre Dame in 2026 while earning Second-Team All-ACC and Freshman All-ACC honors in addition to being named a third-team NFCA Great Lakes All-Region selection. The Mishawaka, Ind., product primarily saw action at second base for the Fighting Irish. She posted a team-best .406 batting average and .474 on-base percentage while collecting 56 hits, 13 doubles, five home runs, 31 RBI, 16 walks, 34 runs scored, and 10 stolen bases. Zachary led the team in multiple offensive categories, including batting average (.406), doubles (13), RBI (31), on-base percentage (.474), and slugging percentage (.609).

She led Notre Dame with 17 multi-hit games during her freshman campaign and posted a team-best 13-game hitting streak during the season. Zachary also drove in multiple runs and scored multiple runs in eight games, highlighted by a career day against Cal on March 29 that saw her collect a career-high four hits and four RBI, among them a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. She also had a three-hit performance that included a pair of runs scored and RBI in a win over Cal on March 28, in addition to tallying two hits and three runs scored in a series-clinching win at No. 20 Stanford on March 15. She was named an NFCA Top Performer of the Week on March 17 and March 31 and appeared on both the D1Softball D100 Freshman Watch List and the Softball America Freshman Watch List.

Prior to her time at Notre Dame, Zachary was a standout at Penn High School, where she played for her mother, Beth. She batted .482 with 196 hits, 174 RBI, 169 runs, 41 doubles, 20 home runs, and 79 stolen bases in her high school career. As a senior, she posted a .543 batting average with 10 doubles, eight home runs, four triples, 62 RBI, and 46 runs while being named Miss Indiana Softball. Zachary was a 4A First-Team All-State selection in 2024 after hitting .473 with 40 RBI and 20 extra-base hits. She led Penn in batting average as both a freshman and a sophomore while leading the Kingsmen to the 2023 4A State Championship.

Arkansas is coming off a historic 47-13 campaign, which featured the Razorbacks’ first trip to the Women’s College World Series in program history. The 2026 Arkansas squad’s 47 victories were the second-most in program history, while the Razorbacks’ 26 run-rule wins were a program record. At Bogle Park, Arkansas posted a 29-3 record, which marked the second-most wins and second-best winning percentage since the stadium opened in 2009, trailing only 31 wins in 2022 and a .931 winning percentage during a 27-2 campaign in 2018.

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